The federal government, in Presidential Executive Order 13101, has defined "Green" as: "…products and services that reduce the health and environmental impacts compared to similar products and services used for the same purpose."
For many the question about green disposable food service products is, "is this tend here to stay, and is the industry really heading in this direction" In the Food Packaging Institutes Trends report for 2009 they concluded that, green packaging has garnered its place in the foodservice industry, and demand is likely to grow as the national green movement and legislative changes continue to affect the foodservice packaging industry. The report says new alternative materials like biopolymers, starches, and non-tree cellulose (such as sugarcane and bamboo) have entered the market touting biodegradable and/or compostable benefits. But the report also contends that changes to traditional materials used to make foodservice packaging are making materials such as paper, plastic and aluminum more green because of increased use of post consumer recycled content and source reduction though light weighting and fillers.
Another material shift evidenced in the report are responses indicating a shift from plastics in general to paper packaging. And in the plastics market, polypropylene and polyethylene are gaining market share at the expense of polystyrene, the long dominant material in plastic foodservice packaging.
With all segments of the food service industry making the shift to become more "green" in all facets of their facilities, packaging is just one of the many focuses for the industry.
In the following pages the team at PFM hopes to be able to answer some of the many questions that you may have about the many green disposable products that are available to you today.